Guilt
by Uozumi
Summary: Dr. Miroku takes over a ward for psychologically damaged teenage girls and finds a girl who is there by circumstance and bad luck instead of need.
1. Case 1

This fanfiction comes back from 2003. I hope you enjoy it, and I plan on putting the original author's notes from now on uninterupted.

This came to me only a few hours after posting the end of _Just Write_, and I hope that you enjoy this S/M fic as much as you enjoyed _Music from Another Room_, _Last of the Summer's Wine_, _A Memory from Faraway_, _Portal_, and _Moonlit_. (Which are definitely **not **in chronological order…)

I don't own ANYTHING!

Anyway, I just can't think of writing fanfiction without having a SangoxMiroku fic floating about, so…

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #1

_The rain was splattering everywhere; it's intoxicatingly droning sound washing over her like its drops. She was running, faster, faster --she had to get there! She had to!_

Looking around as though she could lose her way on a straight path, she abruptly slowed at the sight of a boy's jeans jacket.

'Kohaku!'

Turning towards the jacket, she caught the railing of a wooden bridge, her hair swirling towards the water as a chilly gust brought her eyes downward towards the form falling.

"KOHAKU!"

She woke, sweating. Burying her head in her hands, she knew that there would be a nurse somewhere saying, "There she goes again. Damn girl, always in the middle of the night."

Sure, they never said those things to her face, but she knew they were thinking that.

They were always saying something like that about all the girls in the ward.

Looking around, she felt a pull at her chest, tears still streaming. What did she keep seeing? It seemed so real, but so surreal at the same time. It was like watching a dream, but that was all her memories were now…dreams. Shaking her head, she leaned back against the wall of her room, her cell, and looked out the barred window at the lighted hall towards the nurses' office.

It would be such an easy walk….

Yet, they locked the doors from the outside so only they could get in…

Eyeing the button by her bedside, she wondered if they would allow Kagome, that girl who was in for attempting to cut herself every two seconds of her life, to come into her room. Kagome was her only friend right now. All the nurses were scared by "that 'look' in her eyes," but Kagome…

Kagome was different. Kagome saw people for who they were on the inside, she understood. She still had a family who visited her, she wasn't jaded, she had a boyfriend…

Sango shook her head. 'She's so lucky…' Glancing to the clock, she allowed herself to ease back down on the bed. Tomorrow would be here - no, it was here. She only had to wait out four more hours before they unlocked her door so she could move about at six that morning.

Rolling over so she faced the wall, she heard screaming and smelled something awful.

Someone had gone insane.

Someone's room would have to be cleaned.

**---**

"I heard you last night," Kagome sat beside Sango on a bench that was in a sunroom that had bars on all the windows. Yet, it was still pretty, once you had been there long enough that the bars were just there, and you couldn't remember a time when there had never been bars on any window.

"Yeah…" Sango blinked, then looked to the younger girl, "I heard someone get taken away for going senile again."

"Kikyô was in the room," Kagome shrugged, "it was her roommate, the new one."

"Ah," Sango nodded.

"Sango?"

"Yeah?"

"I never asked, and I know this will sound like a 'newbie' question, but…" Kagome's voice trailed, then she looked at the seventeen-year-old who looked to be much older, "Why are you here?"

Sango took in a breath, the vision of the figure falling away from her on the bridge flashing before her eyes. Closing her eyes, she bowed her head, "I'm not here because I'm crazy, suicidal, or anything…

"Everyone just thinks I'm lying."

Kagome turned away, "I'm sorry."

"It's all right," Sango began to rock the swing slightly. "You deserve to know. You've told me everything about you anyway."

"But, that doesn't mean -"

"Tanuki?"

Sango looked over her shoulder lazily, "Yes?"

The nurse gestured her thumb towards the hall behind her, "You're needed."

"Why?"

"Don't sass me, get your ass over there."

Sango sighed, then got up, looking down to Kagome, "See you later."

"Good luck," Kagome smiled, waving as Sango disappeared from sight.

**---**

The nurse had waited patiently, instructing Sango to wear one of her best dresses. They were going past the normal restrictions of the ward, and didn't want people to think ill of the girl. She probably really shouldn't be in the ward, but no one said so. She was treated like any other OCDer, suicide addict, etc…

Relaying the patient to another nurse, Sango soon found herself sans the first nurse and on a trip out into the "world," if you could call a few halls from the confinements of the ward the "world."

The nurse knocked on a wooden door, breaking Sango from her thoughts about this new area she had never seen. She'd been here a whole year, but this was the first time since then that she had seen this part of the hospital. It was like going from Boise to Paris in a few seconds. It was so new, so different…

So clean….

"Come in," a muffled voice bade entrance.

The nurse opened the door first, "I'm Nurse Wenschwieger," she spoke with her heavy German accent, "I've brought you the patient."

Sango glanced over the taller woman's shoulder, but couldn't see into the room. Whoever was in there sounded young…Who was it? He didn't sound like a typical doctor, or that horrid psychologist Dr. Aku Naraku, who no one could really respect, even if he scared every living thing on the planet.

"Well, let her in," the man instructed.

"Yes, sir," Nurse Wenschwieger nodded, then stepped back, Sango stepping back with her. "You silly girl, go in."

Sango glanced from the nurse to the open door, to her nurse again. Her throat was paralyzed. Why was she scared? It was new; it was different. Why was she scared? A year ago, she would have bypassed Nurse Wenschwieger with no qualms, just walking in, and offering a hand, confidence in every moment.

That was gone now. The ward, the other patients had taken that from her. Now she was unsure, insecure. Did she really want to find out who was the owner of that voice?

"Come now," Nurse Wenschwieger pushed her, "you are supposed to love these kinds of things, right? Don't tell me you've lost that spark I saw long ago? Get in there!"

Shoved literally through the door, Sango blinked, then felt the color drain from her face as she met two concerned purple eyes. She felt like a mouse in a cage before a hungry cat, she felt as though she was onstage for American Idol or Star Search in her underwear and not a memory of any song so she could sing. Wanting to bolt, she turned, but there was Nurse Wenschwieger in the way, taking up the entire doorframe.

"Be afraid," the voice was gentle, "I won't tell you not to. If you want to feel fear, then feel it."

Sango turned to the man with the violet eyes. He had to be barely older than her, twenty-four at the oldest, with dark hair, a dark, professional-looking suit, white shirt, dark tie…. He had corporate America written all over him.

Yet, he wouldn't be here if he represented corporate America, right?

Her mind raced. How could she get out of this? Where was her pragmatism when she needed it?!

"I won't ask you to do anything until you decide. If you want to leave now, you can, but we'll be seeing each other at two each afternoon every day except for the weekend."

Sango felt intimidation grow inside her. It grew from her heart, up into her throat, down into her stomach… What was this feeling?

"I - I -" she went to speak, but only sputtered.

"Would it help if you knew who I was?"

She nodded, without even consciously thinking to do so.

"I'm Miroku Arisugawa, Psychologist," he rose from his chair, stretching his hand across the table to her, an offering for her to step farther into the room. Smiling, he inquired, "Who are you?"

"S - Sango Tanuki," she shyly took it, amazed at how soft it felt compared to her callused hands. They weren't girlish soft, but his hands definitely hadn't done the hard labor that hers had so many times on her uncle's farm each summer for years.

"That's a pretty name," he smiled. "A coral fox -"

"Raccoon," she cut in, then blushed, retracting her hand, and stepping back, "Uh…I shouldn't have interrupted…."

Her mind was racing. By now Dr. Naraku would have been cursing and putting her on a guilt trip. So many guilt trips…

She felt them all weigh on her now.

"I'm sorry," Miroku let his hand drop. "I can't keep the little Japanese I know straight."

She nodded, looking down at her feet. It would come any time now. There had to be something wrong with her, right? She would be belittled. Nurse Wenschwieger would be sent from the room, and she would be here, all alone…

"Do you wish to proceed?"

The question caught her off-guard.

He saw it in her eyes. Blinking a moment, he smiled, "Don't worry. Dr. Naraku won't be coming back.

"He resigned just last week, so now you'll be seeing me."

**To be continued….**


	2. Case 2

The computer ate chapter two! TT

I want to cry…

Now I have to remember what my two pages I typed three periods ago!

::sniffle::

I hate this!

I don't own anything!

Also, the movie you referred to is _One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest_.

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #2

He was the only child of an affluent New York artist, who instilled his courage and determination into his son from the beginning. Working as hard as possible, the boy grew up to pursue a career in Psychology to understand those around him, and himself better.

He had a temper, but you would never know. Keeping it bottle inside, he kept it away, appearing calm, cool, but if the rage was called for, if something arose that needed him to get angry, he would. He didn't like to get mad, but if he absolutely had to, he would.

He had interned for Dr. Aku Naraku, who took him under his wing, taking him to the boys' psychological/neurological trauma ward, but when Dr. Naraku went to the girls' ward, his intern was told to leave. He didn't "need" him.

The young man knew better, even at nineteen, when they first met, he knew.

That's when he worked as hard as he could on an accelerated course to free those girls of that agony and abuse.

Now, here he was, twenty-two, his own office, and a steady stream of patients starting at about nine the day before with Sango Tanuki. Looking to his watch, he sighed, '7:55 a.m…' Glancing about the room, he wondered if Nurse Wenschwieger was having trouble with this patient. It had been almost the whole hour allotted to one girl before she could be drug into the room. 'That wasn't productive…'

Hearing a knock, his violet eyes snap up, "Come in."

For once, the silhouette that appeared first in the doorway wasn't a nurse, but a young girl, about fifteen or sixteen, he judged. Smiling, she walked over to him, then stuck out a hand, "I'm Kagome Higurashi."

"Dr. Miroku Arisugawa," he returned the smile in kind, shaking her hand. 'She's different, vibrant…maybe she hasn't been here long, or maybe she's been her longer than I can imagine…'

Their hands having dropped, he noted she was waiting for instruction. In her amethyst eyes, she held complete trust for him. Had she never had Dr. Naraku? All the others were afraid that he would be just like the retired psychologist, but… "Why don't you take a seat?"

"Thanks," Kagome sat down; still looking nerved, completely okay with the situation.

"Now," Miroku looked to her, "you don't really seemed intimidated by this situation." He glanced up at a movement, then waved Nurse Wenschwieger away, letting her know that he thought he could handle it for the next hour or so. "Why?"

Kagome thought a moment, her smile never fading, "Because, I feel as though I can trust you."

"What about Dr. Naraku? What did you feel when you met him?"

Kagome lowered her eyes, "I - I almost ran from the room screaming."

Miroku nodded, then held up a manila folder, "Do you know what's in this folder?"

Kagome eyed it hesitantly, the memory of the horrid man flooding into her, "N - no…."

"These are your records," he flipped the folder open, taking out documents, addressing them as he pulled them out, laying them on his desk, "Your personal statistics, hospital records, medication information…" he named a few more vital papers, then pulled out an inch or so thick notebook. "Know what this is?"

She shook her head, still uncertain.

"Notes that Naraku kept on you," he flipped through the notebook. "Want to know what I think of them?"

She offered no reply, afraid to speak.

Unceremoniously, he tossed them in the trashcan beside his desk. He chose how to start each meeting with a new patient by observing them a few minutes. This was the best way to deal with Kagome, get a feel for what could set her off, etc…. "Kagome, let's start this note file over."

"What?" she blinked. Was he senile?

"I know you might not understand, might not want to, but I am not Dr. Naraku," he leaned forward, looking her in the eyes, so his eyes and hers were even, "I won't do what he did. I believe that you can very well direct this session and other subsequent sessions on your own. You are what? Fifteen? Sixteen?"

"Sixteen, Doctor."

"All right," he leaned back, her eyes following his movement. "You're a grown woman in your own right, two years to go until federally recognized as so," he paused as though choosing words as he conveniently let the others settle into her mind. "So, you should be able to judge what you want to do. If you want to feel fear, feel it. If you want to cry, cry. It's as simple as that."

Kagome stared. This was so radical, liberal in a sense, however, judging by the book she saw lying just inside his briefcase, she guessed he was a Republican.

"Do you want to read this?" Miroku wheeled his chair back, picking the book from his case.

"N - No, I was just thinking about -"

"Here," he pressed it into her hands. "Try it out."

"I couldn't - what if -?"

"If you don't like it, bring it back on Friday when you have your next appointment," he closed her hands around the book, Bush at War, a best seller. "If you like something, then read up on it, watch a program about it. I know that there's three television rooms, so surely if you wished to watch the news, or something of that nature you could."

She stared at him, then looked down at the blue book with a black spine, its paper covering taken off. Her eyes lifting up to meet his, she replied with a small smile, "Thanks."

**---**

Sango was not looking forward to her meeting with Dr. Arisugawa. Kagome had come back, a book in hand, smile on her features, referring to him as "Dr. Miroku," and beaming like a schoolgirl who's had a class with her favorite male professor. Perhaps Kagome had found him nice and friendly, but Sango was still wary.

He had told her he was the intern of Dr. Naraku at their past meeting the day before, and that just didn't sit well with her. She had nightmare upon nightmare, guilt upon guilt, almost as though she had spent a day with the dreaded psychologist.

Bristling, she found herself before that horrid wooden door, "Dr. Arisugawa, Psychological/Neurological Trauma, M.D.," written across it. Sure, it was more comfortable than the blue, dry walled room that Dr. Naraku had used, but it could…it could….

It could be better, if it was a room for freedom and not a room that could bring back such trying memories.

"Come in," the same muffled voice instructed, more pleasant than the day before.

Feeling a tiny shove from Nurse Wenschwieger, Sango opened the door, reasoning that he was more pleasant due to Kagome. Somehow that girl could stay optimistic to the end, and it was infectious, however…however, when Dr. Naraku had been around, Kagome had never been so happy after a visit….

"Good morning," Miroku smiled warmly. "Do you plan to stay today?"

Sango silently took a seat.

Miroku waved Nurse Wenschwieger away; acknowledging that he thought everything would turn out just fine.

"If you don't want to say anything, that's fine," he crossed his legs. "I can wait."

Sango studied him intently, scrutinizing, taking in every detail.

Miroku tried not to flinch under the gaze. He felt like a gift horse that was being inspected. He was there to help; yet, there was still skepticism.

"Tell me about you."

He blinked, almost toppling in his chair as he resituated himself to gain balance, both feet firmly on the floor now, "What?"

She indicated the manila envelope on her desk, her photo and name on it. "You have access to everything about me, so tell me about you. It's only fair."

"Then ask any question, but if I don't want to answer it, I won't."

"I didn't get that freedom."

His eyes met hers, a long gaze going between them. Even the "notorious Kikyô," as the nurses called the sixteen-year-old, was easier to get along with. She just went with the flow, but this Sango Tanuki…this "coral raccoon" was another thing. She wanted answers and a fair game.

He opened the folder, sliding out the papers he looked at, "Here, these are all the questions they ask you. These are the ones that I cannot pass up, but if they aren't on this sheet, I can pass them if I want. That would be fair, right?"

Sango nodded, then studied the sheet. So much of the sheet would need to be changed since a year had passed. She had lost weight; her measurements had gotten weirder in a sense…. It was obsolete. She passed the papers back to him, "They're not accurate."

He stared at her, taking them, "What?"

"I'm not like any of that now," she leaned over, pointing to certain parts, "I'm seventeen now, I'm 120 pounds now…" she went down the list, unintentionally divulging what she didn't tell anyone else to him.

Miroku made necessary changes, updating the file. After it was completed, he slipped the papers back into the notebookless file (he had removed the notebook after their meeting), and looked to her, "I wonder how many of you need to do that."

"More than will tell you," Sango intertwined her fingers. "What time is it?"

Miroku looked to his watch, "Nine-forty-four."

Sango mulled it over as though it would affect any decision she could make from now on, as though the world hung in balance it seemed. "We have from nine until ten every day except weekends, right?"

"Yeah."

"When's the next prisoner come in?"

"Excuse me?" Miroku blinked. This term was new, even the most jaded of patients hadn't referred to themselves as "prisoners."

"Prisoner, another patient as you lovingly call them," Sango was fed up. She had no sleep the night before, she had no breakfast because she hadn't bothered to go to the food room when the time arose. She just wanted to go "home."

He sensed her exhaustion. He didn't know why, but with her, he could tell what she was feeling, what she was thinking. He knew this wasn't a reflection on him, or just another smart-ass. This was plain exhaustion. It was as simple as that.

"How about you go back to the ward?"

Sango blinked, caught off-guard. Had she said something wrong?!

Miroku rose, "I'll escort you. You're too tired, and you're hungry."

"How did you -" Sango blushed as her stomach growled in acknowledgement.

"I want to see this facility anyway," Miroku stepped around his desk. "Come on, let's go," he offered a hand. All nurses brought their patients to and from by holding their hand. It wasn't just a reassurance for the patient and nurse, but also a form of control without a leash.

Sango took it, surprised at how warm it was when it wrapped around hers. Looking away, she hoped her hair covered up how red she was getting. It was too much, but why? So many people held her hand, so why was she red? It was a normal occurrence, even male staff did, so…

"Come on," Miroku squeezed her hand, "let's get you back to the ward and get you something to eat."

Sango simply nodded in reply.

**To be continued…**


	3. Case 3

Thanks for all the reviews.

Don't let me forget to tell Coronet about this so she can put it on her Inu-Yasha On-line site.

I don't own Inu-Yasha.

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #3

At ten o'clock Dr. Arisugawa was booted off-line. Sighing, he rose from the chair and walked over to his telephone. Why was it that when he finally had finished with his e-mail and was about to freely surf the net, someone called and kicked him off?

Sighing, he punched in the voice mail number, then leaned against the counter, waiting.

"You have one unheard message.

"First message, received Today, February 1, 2003 at 9:58 a.m…."

"Hello, this is Nurse Moskovitz; sorry to interrupt your Saturday, Dr. Arisugawa, but we have an issue down here at the ward. I'm sure you've heard the news of the space shuttle explosion by now, and, well…

"Could you come in? We have a few girls who are quite shaken.

"Thank you."

Miroku almost dropped the telephone in shock, 'Shuttle explosion?' Quietly, he walked into the television room of his house, flipping it on to Headline News.

They were having commercials.

Turning it on to Fox News, he sighed.

They too, were having commercials. Why was it that they always seemed to do commercials in tandem?

Flipping it back to Headline News, he was rewarded with coming back to the news music.

His violet eyes abruptly frosted over, disbelief crossing his features.

Visions of the Challenger from when he was in first grade flooded back to him as he watched the shuttle spark, then explode on its reentry. Wasn't it only Tuesday that they had the anniversary of that tragedy?

Shutting off the television, he slipped into his shoes, and grabbed a coat and keys.

**---**

Sango had retreated to her room after watching the news that morning. She refused to speak, not to anyone. All she could think of was that bridge, what she couldn't do, how they thought she had lied…

Gritting her teeth, she knew exactly how the families of the crew must feel, having lost her own brother only the year before.

'Kohaku…' curling up into a ball on her bed, she shivered slightly, remembering how cold it had been that rainy day….

**---**

Almost immediately at his arrival, Miroku found himself shuffled from room to room, talking to girls, but only the ones that knew.

Only a few girls actually watched the news, so luckily he didn't have to deal with a ward full of anguish and uncertainty or demonic, sadistic joy. He found at least one of each type of reaction:

Fear Joy Laughter Impassiveness (Kikyô) Uncertainty (Kagome) Sorrow

At one, he seemed to have canvassed all the nurses had figured had watched the news (having found all of them in the room that had the news on), then after a conference about if he should stay and how to reach him after he went home, he prepared to go.

"Dr. Miroku?" he felt a tug at the sleeve of his Green Bay Packers' T-shirt that wasn't in his jacket.

Looking down at the patient, he met her amethyst eyes, "Yes, Kagome?"

"Sango saw too."

He blinked, "What?"

"She saw, but left quickly, I don't think that the nurses knew."

He frowned, then hung his jacket back on the closet hook, "Where is she?"

"Room 24 D," Kagome pointed down a hall.

**---**

Feeling the bed creak with an added weight, Sango shut her eyes tightly, hoping that would convey the message that she was sleeping, even if she wasn't.

The person wasn't leaving.

Silence falling, she felt as though it would choke her as she stayed curled up into a ball and whoever it was stayed sitting. She knew it wasn't Kagome; Kagome had already tried to help her. It wasn't Kikyô, Kikyô wouldn't care at all…

In the silence, her mind began to remember something, a vague audio clip, which seemed from somewhere faraway…

_"I won't tell you not to. If you want to feel fear, then feel it." _

This silence would fit that logic, wouldn't it…?

"Dr. Arisugawa?"

"Yes?" Miroku blinked at her voice that came muffled.

"Why are you here?"

"I -"

"Don't say you care," she kept her eyes closed. "You're only here for the money, and we both know it."

Miroku bit his tongue, chasing his temper away, "Sango," he began quietly, "what's bothering you?"

"Nothing."

"Fine then," he folded his arms, situating himself into a more comfortable position.

Again, silence enveloped them.

"You're still here?"

"Yes," Miroku nodded solemnly.

"Why? Nothing's wrong with me."

"Because you need me."

"If you want some, doctor, you have a mistaken idea of what a psychologist is," Sango spoke quietly, and without the dry laugh that should be there, the silence that followed was more eerie.

"Don't worry," Miroku murmured, "I wouldn't do that. I'm not Dr. Naraku."

"That you aren't."

He watched her a minute, then spoke, "Ever want to see the city?"

Sango froze. 'What?'

"I can arrange it, and take you out there today," he pointed towards the window, even if she couldn't see it with her eyes still closed.

"Why would you…?" she sat up, staring at him.

"Because, this shuttle event hurt you," his eyes held sympathy and compassion, two emotions that seemed so fake to her nowadays, but right then, she could believe them. There was something about seeing them in those violet irises that made her believe that he actually did care.

"They wouldn't -"

"I'll explain it to them," he rose, patting her shoulder, "How about you get ready to go."

Staring at the door after he had shut it, she looked around the room, then stood. It still hurt, but she couldn't just refuse him. He wanted to go outside, and why keep him indoors?

**---**

"What are we going to do, Dr. Arisugawa?" she looked to him after they exited the hospital.

Looking around, he smiled, "Why don't we just walk around until we can think of something?" Then, he looked to her, "Unless there's something specific you want to do."

Sango glanced about, perplexed. It had been so long since she had been out of the ward that she couldn't remember anything. "I - I haven't the slightest idea."

"Why don't we go to the canal then and watch the ducks?"

"Isn't that a little juvenile?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all," he kept hold of her hand, something they'd gotten used to since it was a rule in the ward that you never let go of a patients hand when outside of the ward in the hospital. "Besides, I like the park."

Sighing, she conceded, "It sounds lovely."

**---**

It was a surprisingly warm February day, highs in the upper forties, making it a bearable walk. Around them, people walked, biked, and jogged past; children played on the park's playground, however the sun stayed behind the clouds. Looking around, Sango remembered coming here since she was small, playing on the playground, running down the path, learning to ride her bike…

This place was so full of memories….

"Tut, tut," Miroku looked skyward as a drop hit him square in the bridge of his nose.

Sango looked up, but didn't see whatever he had seen, "What's that mean?"

"You know, like in Winnie the Poo," Miroku looked to her.

She was already on another track of thought, watching a paintball fight going on to their right. Feeling a drop simultaneously putting her foot on a wooden bridge, she froze.

Rain.

Bridge.

Kohaku.

"Come on, let's go," Miroku tugged at her as the rain became a sprinkle, growing stronger.

Sango didn't budge, her dark eyes couldn't leave the churning river bellow.

Glancing to her and her fixation, Miroku stopped, staring.

'What's that look…?'

"Kohaku," she sunk to her knees at the edge of the bridge, reached through the bars, her fingers clasping and unclasping.

_The rain was splattering everywhere; it's intoxicatingly droning sound washing over her like its drops. She was running, faster, faster --she had to get there! She had to!_

Looking around as though she could lose her way on a straight path, she abruptly slowed at the sight of a boy's jeans jacket.

'Kohaku!'

Turning towards the jacket, she caught the railing of a wooden bridge, her hair swirling towards the water as a chilly gust brought her eyes downward towards the form falling.

"KOHAKU!"

It was raining lightly, but still that night flashed before her, all that pain. 

"Sango!" feeling hands on her shoulders, she blinked, Miroku's concerned face only inches from hers.

When had she gotten turned around?

"D - Dr. Arisugawa…?"

He gave a sigh of relief, then met her eyes, "Let's go back."

"What?"

"It's raining," he stood, pulling her up with him. "We need to get back anyway."

'What was that?' glancing over at her periodically as he led her back to the hospital, he frowned. 'It was scary how lost she was…she was somewhere else….'

"Dr. Arisu -"

"Please, call me Dr. Miroku."

"All right," she paused, then began again, "Dr. Miroku, what's wrong? I didn't mean to make us go back suddenly."

He blinked, then smiled, "We're returning because of the rain, not because of anything you did."

'So I lie, so what?' he looked away, then smiled, "Here we are."

**---**

Back in his house later that day, Miroku searched through the stacks of notebooks he had taken with him, keeping them contrary to what he told his patients. He needed information, something general. Intuition told him that even if Dr. Naraku's books contained things that weren't pertinent to the psychological reasoning of these girls, he knew it would at least shed light on her reaction to the bridge.

It had to.

Scanning the red notebook, he sat back from his kneeling position hard, then scanned the page again.

The poor girl….

**To be continued…**


	4. Case 4

I don't own Inu-Yasha.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

WITHOUT YOU, I'D BE LOST!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #4

After Kagome had left on Monday, Miroku places both hands over his face, his fingers between his pushed-up bangs. How would he approach Sango today? All that pain he had walked her into….

He shouldn't have shirked his reading.

Alphabetical order was a mistake….

"Dr. Ari - Miroku?" the girl seemed to materialize in the doorway.

Snapping his attention to her, he smiled, "Good morning, Sango, I'm sorry about Saturday."

"It's okay…" her eyes clouded over a moment, then took on their same, seemingly permanent lackluster glow.

"Would you like to come in? Sit? Or, would you rather go somewhere else?" he smiled kindly, then at her withdrawal from the idea, he hurriedly added, "Of course, we can't go outside."

She seemed slightly relieved at this, but not fully. "I - I'm fine as is."

"All right," he nodded. "What would you like to talk about today?"

She blinked, caught off-guard. Since when did psychiatrists actually ask their patients what they want to talk about?!

Dumbfounded, she blinked, "The - the weather?"

What _did _people talk about when they could speak uninhibited? Sure, there were things she could talk with to the other girls, but her doctor -

She wasn't sure where this would lead, and didn't like that.

"All right then," he went with the flow, "what's it like out there?"

"Um…well…" she looked over her shoulder at the window, "It's…well…."

Miroku rose and walked over to her, "Why don't we go look out the window?"

Taking her hand, he half-led her over to it, a large veranda-like window for those in the waiting room could look out at. "Well, it's sunny…" he murmured.

Feeling eyes on her, Sango's dark eyes glanced around, then she took his hand in both of hers, an urgent, pleading look on her features, "Dr. Miroku," she spoke hurriedly, pleadingly, "let's go back."

"I thought you didn't like the room," he blinked, faltering from "the flow."

"It's not that," she tried to mask the uncomfortable disdain that seemed to resonate from all those in the waiting room. They knew she was one of "them," and they thought of her as one of the lowest life forms manageable on Earth.

Miroku met her eyes, then the violet orbs narrowed, canvassing all the eyes watching. "Go wait in the room."

"Dr. Miro…?"

"Go wait in the room!" it was still a whisper, but it was more urgent this time.

Nodding, Sango went back, looking one last time over her shoulder, their eyes meeting.

He wanted her to close the door.

**---**

He folded his arms, noting that everyone was ignoring him blatantly. He was not pleased. He was no about to be shut out.

No one should have to have those looks placed upon them, especially the traumatized girls that came in and out of his office.

"Attention," his voice seemed to echo in his own head, the air slipping out from around him as his voice seemingly echoed throughout the waiting room. Meeting everyone's eyes, he made sure he had their rapt attention, before plunging in, "It came to my attention just a moment ago that there are people in this world that deserve respect, want respect, and whine about respect.

"Just a moment ago, several eyes looked upon one of my patients as though she had a plague, was a leper, etc…" his paused, making sure they were all still listening. "They held disdain, repugnance, hate, and loathing, all because of a simple blue star on the sleeve of her shirt.

"I don't know why everyone whines about not receiving respect when they don't give it. You all have dug yourselves to the level at which your looks and thoughts placed that girl, who is probably more pure than anyone in this room.

"Just because someone was put away, doesn't mean they aren't human. You shouldn't just assume that they're all going to kill you or that they're all sick with some contagion. You should all be ashamed, and I hope you are, because if you're not, then perhaps you should be locked away."

At their horrified expressions, he stood his ground, then concluded, "You can chalk this up to whatever you want to make it be, but let me tell you this.

"Those girls envy you, but I personally don't."

Then he left them only to stare after the radical young man.

**---**

Sango backed up as the door swung open, a weary looking Miroku muttering as he closed it behind him. "There goes my job…."

"What happened?" her eyes looked concern and in the fraction of a second, he felt as though he was an executive man coming home from the office, his wife concerned for his well being.

Yet, they weren't married.

This was his office, and…

"Nothing," he put aside his confusion, then placed a smile upon his features, "Now what would you like to do?"

"Talk about you."

Miroku's smile faded into a stunned expression, "What?"

"Well," Sango perched on his desk as he still stood, his back to the door, "You always ask what I want to do, and you could always ask what's wrong with me, but…seriously…" her eyes met his as courage abruptly swelled inside of her, "What did you tell them?"

Miroku leaned against the door, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I told them a lot of things…a lot of things I probably shouldn't have said."

"Like what?"

"Like that they weren't right, they needed to reexamine their priorities…" he waved a hand nonchalantly in the air.

"I'm going to lose my job."

"No, you're not," Sango folded her arms. "I won't let them."

"What?"

"I'll cry, I'll scream, I'll refuse to see anyone else," her eyes were dead serious, "I'll become the worst patient in the world if they fire you."

Miroku blinked, then sighed, "That wouldn't be right, that would most likely solidify their decision to keep me fired.

"I wanted to change the system, but I'm wondering if I'm being **too **radical."

"You're not being radical enough!" Sango hopped off the desk, walking over to him. "Dr. Miroku, you need to do whatever it is that your heart tells you to, even if it means you'll wind up in a ward somewhere.

"I stuck up for what I saw, and even if everyone won't believe me, I'll always stick to my story."

"Which is?" the question slipped out before he could retract it, let alone consider what he was saying.

"That my cousins Kana and Kagura killed my younger brother, Kohaku."

**To be continued…**


	5. Case 5

_Chicago _ended today…(the manga by Yumi Tamura, that is), and…well…

I feel so lost now…

However, _Basara _will soon be coming out in non-flipped manga format, so I can't complain!

I don't own Inu-Yasha!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #5

"Dr. Miroku, you need to do whatever it is that your heart tells you to, even if it means you'll wind up in a ward somewhere.

"I stuck up for what I saw, and even if everyone won't believe me, I'll always stick to my story."

"Which is?" the question slipped out before he could retract it, let alone consider what he was saying.

"That my cousins Kana and Kagura killed my younger brother, Kohaku."

Miroku blinked, stunned, "What?"

"You really did destroy our patient files, didn't you?" Sango was taken aback. She considered that story to be false, a lie just to ease their minds and help them trust the young doctor more.

"No, I just haven't read yours yet," Miroku folded his arms, leaning against the door.

"I thought so," Sango turned away, "You're just like the rest of them."

"What?" 'When did…?' Miroku extracted himself from the door, letting his arms drop.

"You say one thing, then do another. You just are trying to do what's best for you, totally forgetting what we need and want.

"I know it sounds selfish, but it's the truth," Sango whipped around, looking him in the eyes, "We don't get the respect we deserve!"

He flopped back against the wall again. This was like a random nightmare, one of those that isn't scary, but just stresses you out and gives you a power-headache, "Look, Sango -"

"No! You look," she walked towards him, "Every day we are expected to do and say and be things that we aren't. They don't think of us as people - no one does! Not Nurse Wenschweiger, not you, and definitely not the people in that room out -"

"SANGO!" he had both her wrists in his hands, commanding her full attention, "Do you know what I just said to those people?!"

She blinked, unsure of her next move.

Noting that, Miroku plodded on, "Sango, listen to me. What I said out there might make me lose my job, might pose sanctions on me, might…

"I don't know, but something bad could come of it," he paused, then quietly situated his hands so they were holding her hands now instead of her wrists. "What I told them was that they didn't hold any respect for you or any of the other girls. They had issues unresolved and couldn't get their heads out of their asses to see that -"

"You said that?!" Sango stared in awe, amazed that any doctor would tell anyone to get their head out of their ass.

"Well, not in those words, but something to that effect," he nodded solemnly, then continued, "The last thing I told them was that you girls really envy them, you envy all the freedom they have, but I…" he lowered his voice, "I don't envy them at all."

She blinked again, then abruptly hugged him, neither registering the motion, but noticing it all the same.

"Thank you, Dr. Miroku," she rested her head against his chest, "Thank you."

**---**

"It's just, some little crush, not like I faint -"

"Rin, if you don't fucking shut up -"

"Kikyô, do you want to spend time in the detention facilities?!"

"'Kikyô, do you want to spend time in the detention facilities?'" came the sarcastic reply.

Nurse Wenschweiger rolled her eyes.

Sango just walked past her, heading to the television room where she would sit in the chairs with Kagome and look out the windows at the world bellow.

Kagome smiled when the older girl entered the room, waving her over to the chair pulled up to her right.

"How'd it go with Dr. Miroku?" Kagome looked to Sango after she took her usual seat.

"Oh…" Sango drawled, then sighed, "I almost got him fired, I think."

Kagome stared, "How?!"

"Well…" Sango paused, then looked away, "I don't think it's my place to say."

"Don't tell me you -"

"No!" Sango held up her hands, "No, nothing like that."

"Then what?"

"It's not my place to say!"

"Then you did…."

"Kagome! Sango!" Nurse Bloomendahl appeared abruptly in the doorway, then continued when she was sure she had both of their attentions, "Kagome, you have a visitor."

Kagome stared, her eyes widening, "But, it's -"

"Monday, I know, but still," the most impatient day nurse huffed, "Come on, let's go!"

**---**

"Kagome," a young man dressed in a brown suit with a wine colored tie rose from the chair in the visiting room.

Kagome smiled shyly, blushing self-consciously, "Inu-Yasha."

"How's it going?" he crossed the room, his long, dark ponytail swishing with his movements. He was eighteen, graduated on an accelerated high school program and already was at work for his father in the electronic/gaming business.

"Fine," Kagome wrapped her arms under his, pulling him into a tight hug, "What's with the suit?"

"I started work for my father today," he ran his hand through her hair, "I'm on lunch break and asked to come over here to show you what I'm becoming."

"You look nice," she closed her eyes, drinking in his scent. He hadn't been around for a few weeks, and to have her holding her again - it was heaven!

"Thanks…" he murmured.

"They say I might be out before the end of the year."

"Really?"

"That's what they say, but they say things and then retract them, or pretend they were never said," she sighed.

"Well, I hope that they mean what they said," he pulled her closer, "because I want to keep that promise as soon as possible."

"Which one?" she inquired dreamily.

"Oh, the one about how Mrs. Daiyô will be at home with Mr. Daiyô, maybe have a kid or two…."

"I like that one."

"Me too," he gave her a long kiss, "but Mr. Daiyô has to be off."

She nodded, pulling away reluctantly, "Then Miss Higurashi will wait for him here until the day."

Stepping backwards towards the door, he nodded, a sorrowful expression crossing his features, "Until the day."

**---**

"Now, I understand that you had a little outburst this morning…."

Miroku concealed his nervousness beautifully, "Dr. Carpenter, I can explain -"

"I'm not going to condone your actions," the elderly ward head leaned back in his chair, "However, it was, in a way, uncalled for, but in another way, you could argue that they had it coming to them."

Miroku didn't dare speak for fear of what his words could incur.

Like, putting his foot in his mouth.

"If you were any other man I think that I would suspend you without pay or some such nonsense like that, however I'm not going to do that."

"Sir?" Miroku blinked.

What was going on?

"You are someone who could change this practice, change things for the better," the man with scraggly white hair met the younger man's violet eyes, "I admire what you did, and if I had half of your courage, I would have done the same."

"Sir?" 'Okay, someone had to have laced my drink with something…'

"Don't let your emotions grab hold of you again, but I'd just like you to know that I'm not angry."

**---**

"Someday…" Kagome entered the television room about twenty minutes after she left, a dreamy quality surrounding her.

"What now?" Kikyô narrowed her eyes, disgruntled.

"Someday Mr. Daiyô and Mrs. Daiyô will live together - somewhere, but together…" Kagome clasped her hands, her eyes taking on a starry quality, "Someday soon, I hope!"

Kikyô made a gagging face, rolling her eyes.

Rin smiled, "I'm happy for you, Kagome."

"Thanks!" Kagome smiled brighter as she took her chair.

"So, what he have to say?" Sango turned her catatonic-like gaze away from the window.

"He says that his father gave him a job at the company, and he hopes that we can marry eventually.

"I love him so much!" Kagome gushed, emotions overflowing.

"How cute," Kikyô rolled her eyes again, not looking up from her Seventeen.

"If you don't have anything nice to say," Rin glanced at the older girl, "then don't say anything at all."

"Whatever," Kikyô lazily flipped through it, then glanced up, "Hey, Sango?"

"Yeah?"

"Catch!"

The magazine when whizzing through the air, landing at the other girl's feet.

Picking it up, she met Kikyô's eyes, "What do you want me to see?"

"Page 52," Kikyô rose, "Now if you'll excuse me, the doctor calls," then she left.

"I wonder if she's going to walk herself down there again," Rin's dark eyes were trained on the  
doorway as though she could still see the jaded girl. "I mean, doesn't she learn?"

"I don't think he'll reprimand her," Sango smiled, "He's not like that."

The other girls stared, stunned, and then converged on her at once.

"Do you like him?"

"Are you two an item?"

"I heard he took you outside one day -"

"Have you kissed him?"

"Do you **want **to kiss him?"

"My God, Sango, you'd be so cute together!"

"They would!"

Sango stared, blushing profusely before getting up, "I think…I think I'll go retire in my room…" then she left.

"I still think something's going down with those two," Rin put her hands on her hips.

Kagome nodded, "It might not be something extreme, but there's definitely something going on with them."

**To be continued…**


	6. Case 6

Thanks for all the great reviews guys!

I don't own Inu-Yasha!

PS: I almost called him Dr. Kanzaki in this chapter instead of Dr. Arisugawa! (_Music from Another Room _fans know what I'm talking about, right?)

I need to get my last names straight for this fic.

Also, thanks for all the reviews that complement me on how it is a SxM fic!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

PS: The reason these chapters (on not just this fic, but others) are coming out so slow is because I've become enamoured with my _Yu Yu Hakusho _fic, _Riverdale High_, if you like YYH, I suggest you check it out.

Sorry about that, though.

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #6

_"Are you two an item?"_

"I heard he took you outside one day -"

"Have you kissed him?"

"Do you **want **to kiss him?"

"My God, Sango, you'd be so cute together!"

"They would!"

'Do I want to kiss him?' curled up in a ball on her bed later that night, Sango stared at her empty room. Glancing at her clock, she sighed, 'At this rate it'll be wake-up time before I fall asleep.'

Rising from the bed, she sat up, just blinking, trying to either decide to wake or sleep.

'If only I could go and talk to him right now,' she mused, glancing about the dark cell, 'but I can't.

'I could ask him what he thought, and -'

"Sango, wake-up call!"

'Or I can just wait a few hours and talk to him then.'

**---**

"Dr. Miroku, do you like Sango?"

The young doctor almost fell over in the desk chair he'd been leaning back in, "What?"

"Do you like Sango?" Rin repeated. It was his seven in the morning patient and they had only had been in the room for five minutes.

'I don't really want to know what will happen in the other fifty-five now…' composing himself, he replied generically, "Of course, I like all of my patients, you too, Rin."

Rin made a face, "That's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?" 'Oh boy, here it comes….'

"Do you want to kiss her?"

If he had been leaning back in his chair still, Miroku would definitely have been staring up at the ceiling now, "What?!"

"You heard me," the fourteen-year-old leaned back in her chair, "I've been wondering for a while now. I mean, you've taken her outside, defended her…

"It just seems like love," shrugging, Rin added a kicker, "Also, when my session is over, or she's going to her session, you two look a little too happy to be doing a session of the psychiatric sort."

'Were all fourteen-year-olds this devious when I was their age?!'

Today marked the two-month mark of his job, and somehow he still couldn't believe that he was still doing this.

And, this was one of those moments.

'Oh well, guidance counselor time,' "Rin, I've only known her for two months -"

"So?"

"She's my patient -"

"So?"

"Look, Rin -"

"It's a simple question, Dr. Miroku," the young girl intertwined her fingers, "Either you do, or you don't, either you will or you won't -"

"Please don't use song lyrics to prove a point."

"I'm not using song lyrics."

'I feel old now…' resisting the urge to sigh, Miroku began again, "Rin, this is not a topic for discussion."

"But, Dr. Miroku, the first day you said -"

"I did, didn't I? However, I did say that I could veto questions, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess so…."

"Then I'm vetoing it."

"But, Dr. Miroku…."

'Oh God, eighth grade girl whining!'

"Okay, Rin, I'll say this. Remember last month when you told me you thought of me as an older brother?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," he scooted the chair a little closer to his desk so he could rest his hands on it, "then let's examine that role."

"Okay."

"Rin, I'm your older brother, I love you, protect you, you've known me your whole life."

"Right," she nodded, one of the best of his patients at this role playing business. If he wanted to make a point with her, he would do this, however if he was trying to make a point with Kikyô, he probably would have more luck using a frying pan.

"Well, we do share things, right?"

"Yes!"

"But, not everything."

"Correct!"

"Then if I want to kiss Sango or not is my business, correct?"

"Yes!"

"Then, you don't need to know if I do or not," leaning back in his chair, he folded my arms, proud of myself for doing that off the cuff with minimal thinking.

'I'm getting used to my patients now.'

"You're right, Dr. Miroku."

"Good," he smiled, "I'm proud of you, Rin, some girls would have continued to press at this point."

"Oh, I don't have to anymore," Rin waved her hand around nonchalantly, "You told me all you need to know, doctor."

Raising an eyebrow, he decided to avoid this game, then smiled, "So, Rin, what did you like about the _Yu Yu Hakusho _episode you saw last night?"

"Oh!" then she went off on that tangent for the rest of the hour.

'She's a little too easy to manipulate, but sometimes that's necessary when even I don't know an answer to her question.'

**---**

"Good morning, Dr. Miroku," Sango closed the door behind her when she entered a few minutes after Rin left.

"Good morning, Sango," Miroku smiled, pushing Rin's questions to the back of his mind. "How are you this morning?"

_"Have you kissed him?"_

"Do you **want **to kiss him?"

Chasing the remarks away, she smiled, "I am fine, thank you, Dr. Miroku.

"How are you?"

"Just fine, thank you."

A foggy pause descending upon them, she looked down at her shoes, her hands behind her back, her fingers still on the doorknob. Studying his intertwined fingers, Miroku wasn't sure what to say.

_"Do you like Sango?"_

"Of course, I like all of my patients, you too, Rin."

"That's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Do you want to kiss her?"

"What?!"

"You heard me. I've been wondering for a while now. I mean, you've taken her outside, defended her…

"It just seems like love.

"Also, when my session is over, or she's going to her session, you two look a little too happy to be doing a session of the psychiatric sort."

"Rin, I've only known her for two months -"

"So?"

"She's my patient -"

"So?"

"Look, Rin -"

"It's a simple question, Dr. Miroku; either you do, or you don't, either you will or you won't -"

'"Either you do, or you don't…you will or you won't…" isn't that a Missy Elliot song?' musing over it, he furrowed his brows.

'What should I say? This is so ridiculous!' fidgeting with the doorknob, Sango debated her next course of action. 'I mean, to be bothered by a comment like that -'

' - would juts be like being back in middle school.'

"Sango -"

"Miroku -" withdrawing at the clash of their names, Sango bowed her head, "You first."

"No, you," he waved a hand.

"But -"

"You're the patient, I'm the doctor, you go first."

"But -"

"Sango…."

"All right," sighing, she continued to study the carpet, "A lot of the girls have been speculating that we have something going. You know, like dating or something. It's kind of uncomfortable for me, you know - I mean," she glanced up, then averted her dark eyes from his violet orbs, "I don't know…" her voice trailing, she whispered, "What were you going to say?"

"The same thing."

Staring a minute, he couldn't believe that he had just said that. What was he thinking?!

"So…" drawling slightly, Sango turned slowly to look at him, "What should we do about it?"

"Do?" his eyes widening, pupils contracting.

"Yeah, do," Sango found her true self surging through her again.

"We can't - I mean, you're my patient, I'm your doctor, and you're still a minor -"

"I don't mean that!" walking over to him, she sat in her customary seat, "I mean, what are we going to do about the other girls!"

"Oh," smiling, the flustered air seemed to evaporate instantaneously, "I thought -"

"Yeah, I know," Sango nodded, "I guess, in a way…no. Never mind."

"Alright, I won't," smiling, Miroku slipped back into his psychologist persona, "Now, what do you think we should do?"

"I haven't the slightest idea."

"Alright, let's say that you're in high school again," intertwining his fingers, he leaned forward on the desk in his typical position. "Now, you've been getting tutoring from a man who graduated the year before, however you're an incoming freshman. You two sit close to each other, laugh together, seem to look like a budding romantic to those trained to deduce that by cheesy romance movies.

"You're friends start bugging you about it, so what would you do?"

"Hmmm…" mulling over it, Sango leaned back in her chair. "First I'd deny it, and blush a lot because I probably have a slight crush on him - I mean, who wouldn't?

"Then, I'd probably admit that I liked him, probably to someone like Kagome," she nodded absentmindedly, "but it wouldn't go farther than an innocent high school crush."

For some reason, he felt dejected by that comment.

Why?

He didn't know, so he nodded, "Then, you should translate that into this situation."

"I should, but…" Sango sighed, then nodded, "Yeah, that would be best; wouldn't it?"

"Yes," nodding, Miroku watched as she rose from her chair.

"I think I'll go now," smiling half-heartedly, Sango offered him a small wave, "I - I don't feel well," lowering her voice she confided, "I think I just started that evil moon thing."

Paling slightly, Miroku knew he shouldn't be embarrassed, but he just nodded, trying to conceal it, "See you tomorrow, then?"

"All right," nodding, she slipped through the door, leaving his sight.

'What was that all about?' glancing at his clock, he stared.

It had only been twenty minutes.

**---**

Flopping down on her cot, she knew that she had just finished her moon cycle only the other day. Why was she crying? Why was her heart breaking? Burying her head into her pillow, she began sobbing, unable to understand why.

**To be continued…**


	7. Case 7

Sorry for the long wait!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #7

"I know I can -

"I know I can -

"Be what I want to be -

"Be what I want to b -"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, RIN!"

YOU'RE JUT JEALOUS THAT I CAN SING!"

"YOU WISH!"

**---**

"Joint counseling?"

"Yes, Dr. Arisugawa," Dr. Mou, the head of the ward nodded, "Perhaps with all the girls present.

"You know, all the ones who are subjected to this verbal, abusive onslaught everyday."

Miroku frowned. It wasn't that the idea annoyed him (actually, he'd been meaning to visit Rin and Kikyô in their element to discuss this problem with them together in a typical setting), nor was it that this conference was eating up his lunch time (pun intended), but that Dr. Mou might not like his conclusion in the end.

From studying both girls, and from the candid conversations they had with him, he could only summarize it as this:

A sisterly relationship between two girls who knew no other way to express that feeling of closeness than to bicker back and forth.

Even Kikyô smiled at the mention of Rin as though they were talking about a little sister, and Kikyô **never** smiled for **anyone**.

'Knowing them, I should bring cotton for everyone's ears….'

"When would that visit be convenient for the ward?"

"How about today, around five-thirty or so?"

**---**

"I GOT THE DISH!"

"Oh, that's nice," Kikyô continued skimming her magazine as the resident bipolar girl almost did a cartwheel or a few in the room.

"I GOT THE DISH! I GOT THE DISH! I GOT THE -"

"SPIT IT OUT ALREADY, ABI!"

"That's Abi-_hime _to you!"

"Whatever."

"So, what's the dish, Abi-hime?" Rin looked up as the sixteen-year-old strode to the window.

"What dish?" Abi-hime reached out the bars to pet a bird that had begun to feed on the bird feeder. "Not another childish antic, Rin.

"You're getting too old for this."

"I wish Abi was still here," Kagome glanced to Sango as they resumed their chess game.

"I don't mind either," Sango shrugged as Rin frowned.

"Since when do you get off telling me what to -"

"Girls, you have a visitor!"

Instantly three out of five patients' heads turned to Nurse Wenschwieger, and…

"DR. MIROKU!" Rin cheered in her typical boisterous manner.

"Yo," Kikyô still didn't look up from her magazine.

"Dr. Arisugawa has come -"

Holding out an arm, Miroku cut her off as he walked into the room, "Hey, guys, what's up?"

"What brings you here, Dr. Miroku?" Kagome looked up from the checkerboard as Sango averted her eyes to it.

'Sango…' glancing to her, he pushed the breaking feeling away.

"I came for a visit," Miroku smiled in reply.

"Really, Doctor?" Kikyô lazily turned another page as she raised her eyes to meet his gaze, "Rumor has it that Mou told you to come down here."

Taking an open chair, Miroku nodded, "Yes, Dr. Mou suggested this type of visit.

"The reason being is that there's been some concern from the nurses that Kikyô and Rin's disagreements are intruding upon everyone, causing an uncomfortable situation for all present -"

"Cut the crap and spit it out, Doctor."

"He suggested 'joint counseling.'"

Miroku watched Kikyô twitch, her fingers gripping the magazine tighter.

Bowing his head, he acknowledged the motion, "That's what I thought."

Sango studied the checkers. She didn't dare look at him. If they didn't acknowledge each other, Rin wouldn't start in.

Right?

"Dr. Miroku, why won't you and Sango look at each other?"

'Damn.'

"Rin, this is -"

" - irrelevant to the current discussion, blah, blah, blah…" she waved a hand in the air, then narrowed her eyes, leaning in closer, "Look, Doc, I know sexual tension like the back of my hand, and -"

"Rin, don't terrorize them."

"You're just jealous, Kikyô."

"Of what?" the older girl looked up from her magazine, challenging Rin to continue on her present course.

For once, Rin was a loss for words.

Miroku stared, contemplating bowing to Kikyô and asking her to teach him such a technique. "She's right, Rin," Sango found her voice, "Right now, you're grasping at a dream. You want a relationship this innocent, this coincidental, and easily hid, so you project that ideal onto Miroku and I. However, we are strictly platonic.

"I didn't want to bring reality crashing about you, but Dr. Miroku is one of the finest - no, the finest psychologist we've ever and will ever have, so I can't allow you to put his job in jeopardy. If you continue to speculate upon such lies for whatever reason, he might be fired for breaking taboo, so, please, for the sake of this ward, abandon your fantasy of such a romance."

The room grew deathly silent.

'Sango…' Miroku stared.

'It's not Rin who's projecting an ideal; it's you. You're verbally reasoning your own feelings by projecting them onto how you perceive what Rin means whenever she meddles with us.'

"You're right," Rin bowed her head in resignation, the room falling to silence yet again.

"Rin, don't you owe them something?"

"I have no money, Kikyô."

"You **know **what I mean."

Nodding, Rin sighed, then bowed respectfully before Miroku and Sango, "I'm very sorry, guys.

"I beg your forgiveness."

"It's all right," Miroku smiled, used to such respect from Rin every now and then, especially at times like this.

"Forgiven," Sango joined in on the smile, deepening Rin's resolve that they were something more than patient and doctor.

'I mean, what kind of patient and doctor look like they go together?!

'Oh well…'

"But, I still think that you're cute together."

"RIN!"

"What?"

'Yeah, definitely a sisterly relationship,' Miroku smiled. Sure, he had been an only child, but his neighbors growing up were five sisters, and there were two who were exactly like Rin and Kikyô.

"EEK! YYH IS ON!"

"YYH?" Abi-hime raised an eyebrow. However, if it had been Abi, she would have been right there with Rin.

"Yu Yu Hakusho - duh! You love this show!"

"I do not, cartoons are for morons!"

"It's not cartoons, it's anime!"

"Whatever."

After Abi-hime left, Miroku glanced to Rin, whose attention was riveted on the final part of Yusuke's battle against Suzaku. Glancing to the window, he felt his subconscious tug at him, bringing his attention to Rin again…

Or, more likely Kikyô, who was to Rin's right, just as into the show as the other girl.

**---**

"Well, Kagome, I don't want to get you too worked up, but…."

"But…?" she looked to Miroku, her brow furrowing at his grim expression.

"But, after consulting Dr. Mou, we're scheduling your projected release for June!"

Blinking at the metamorphosis of his now jubilant expression, Kagome stared, then squealed.

**---**

"R - RELEASE?!"

"Yes!" Kagome threw her arms around her fiancé.

Stunned, Inu-Yasha felt the numbness of his shock ebb away, then pulled her closer.

Neither could be happier at that moment.

**---**

"R - Release?" Sango stared.

Kagome nodded as she perched on her chair, braiding her long midnight hair.

"We're getting married in March three years from now."

"Three years?!" Sango continued to stare.

"If it were me, I'd get married March of next year, if you're so set on a March wedding," Kikyô murmured, buried in yet another magazine.

"I would too, but I don't turn eighteen until the September before that."

"Ah yes," Kikyô nodded, "Pesky laws."

"Can't you get a parental consent?" Rin looked over her shoulder at Kagome from where she was watching the progression of the war in Iraq.

"I - I didn't think of that!" Sango smiled brightly, yet it evaporated at the younger girl's darkening expression.

"My parents are dead. Actually, asides from you guys and Inu-Yasha, everyone I've ever loved it dead.

"That's why I cut myself, I wanted to get away from the pain."

"I - I didn't know," Sango blinked, "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," Kagome waved a hand in the air, "I never told you anyway."

'I know how you feel though,' Sango sighed, glancing out the window, 'With the way they ignore me, they might as well be dead….

'Kohaku…if only I had faster, if only my word counted over Kana and Kagura's…

'Would you still be here? Would I be at home right now worrying about the upcoming Prom…?

'Would I be a normal girl?'

"Sango?"

"Eh?" blinking, the girl was broken of her reverie.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah; why?"

"You're crying."

**To be continued…**


	8. Case 8

Yesterday (May 10, 2003) was my first Prom, and God I loved it! It was basically a big dance where everyone dressed up fancy and we all hung out in our little group of friends! That's all Prom really is!

Also, I will state that going by yourself has its benefits…

I LOVE YOU ALL!

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #8

"You know, someday one of us will write a book, you know, like Girl Interrupted, or something like that," Abi perched on the chair with a grace that displayed why her parents had given her a name that dealt with birds.

"I hope not."

"Kikyô, **must** you be a pessimist?"

Rin was saluted with the middle finger.

Sango laughed, then turned to Kagome, her mirth deteriorating, "Kagome, what's wrong?"

"Well, it's May."

"Yeah; so?"

"It's May."

"…" Sango sat up, closing the magazine Kikyô had allowed her to borrow, "Kagome, what's wrong?"

"I'm leaving in three weeks on the seventh of June."

Sango paused, then nodded, "Shouldn't you be happy? I mean, you're leaving, you get to do the one thing that we all dream of but few will do."

"That's why. I want to see you all again, and keep in touch, but Inu-Yasha's father said Inu-Yasha will transfer to California by the end of fall, so…"

"…So we'll never see each other again…" Sango blinked. She wasn't even going to attempt a "we can always write" because no one in the ward received letters, but all suspected that some came anyway.

"Sango, it's not fair! I've been here for over a year, and I'll be free, but I'll also be hinder -"

"Why don't you talk to Dr. Miroku about it?"

Sango and Kagome's attention snapped to Kikyô, whose eyes were scanning the latest _Seventeen_. "I mean, if Kagome keeps in touch with him, surely he can keep her in touch with all of us.

"The man's a fucking god for christsakes."

"Do you think we'll keep in touch then?" Rin gazed up at Kagome, bypassing Kikyô's foul mouth.

"Of course," Kagome smiled, "Dr. Miroku will help, I know it."

**---**

"So, what do you think about it?"

Sango traced a figure eight on the arm of the oak chair before Miroku's desk, "Like shit."

Miroku raised an eyebrow at the Kikyô-ism. "I know that no matter how you psyche yourself up, no matter what you say or do, or convince yourself of, when Kagome leaves you will be lost." He rested his forearms on the desk, leaning forward, his eyes trained on her, "I can tell, Sango, and you know it as well. You might summarize that you shouldn't cry, that you shouldn't feel as though you're without something once she goes; that you must forget her, even.

"But, Sango, sometimes you have to cry, you have to be sad, so it's okay to f -"

"No, it's not!" her dark eyes snapped up, a flash going through them, "She's my best friend! No one else is like her! She was the first person who talked to me like I was a person, well, Rin did, but that's just Rin's personality…" Sango bit her lip, turning away, "She's the only one that believes me."

"Believes you…?" Miroku raised an eyebrow. Was this about what got her in here? She had almost told him so many times; would he get the story now? He was dying to ask, but if she wasn't ready…

"Yes, believes me."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

Miroku nodded, leaning back in his chair. Watching her, he noted how she seemed to stare off somewhere, her bangs hiding her eyes, which abruptly locked on his when her head rose, "What was Prom like for you, Dr. Miroku?"

"P - Prom?"

"Yes, you know," Sango murmured, leaning back in her chair, "They've been talking about Proms in the news, so I was wondering what they were like."

Miroku bit back his sorrow at the fact she would never know. When they put her in this place, they had deprived her and others of something so simple as a high school Prom. "Well…wow…where to begin? Uh…"

"How about I ask questions, and you answer?"

"That could work."

"All right…did you ever go to Prom with someone?"

"What do you think?"

"You poor thing - no one spoke to you!"

Miroku burst out laughing at her mock sympathy. In these short few months, he had grown very close in a sense to Sango. She was the only patient who would say that so naturally as though they were friends. Rin would probably have asked if he had sex with half the school, Kagome would have waited for him to tell the story, Kikyô wouldn't have cared…

"I went in a big group my junior year and with a friend senior year."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What was she like?"

"Actually it was me and my best friend, Tanuki," Miroku folded his arms, "We decided to go and pick up chicks."

Sango laughed, "Pick up chicks? At Prom?"

"It sounded like a decent idea at the time," Miroku held up his palms, "and it almost worked too, but something came up."

"Like what?"

"Like a certain girl's father, who kicked us out of Prom."

"Kicked you out? Why?"

"Well…I'd rather not say."

"Really? What you do, feel her up?"

At his silence, Sango's eyes grew large, her pupils dilating, "You - You pervert!"

"No! No! No! It wasn't anything like that…" 'It was worse…' "I mean I kissed her, and her dad went ballistic, and then she found out she'd been betrothed to some weirdo all her life, and -"

"You're lying."

"No, seriously, she was!"

"Riiiight…."

Miroku gave Sango a lopsided grin as she stared him down. If only she was a little older and not his patient, Miroku would have asked her out right then and there. Their time seemed to fly by faster than normal, they kept each other in high spirits, they…

'Wait! What the hell am I thinking?' Miroku kicked himself mentally, 'I can't ask her out! I can't even _think _of asking her out! She's my patient, I'm her doctor…GYAH!!!'

"Are you okay, Dr. Miroku? Did I say something wrong?"

Miroku recovered from his facial display of his thoughts, "Just thinking."

Sango regarded him, then changed the topic, "So, what you do over the weekend…?"

**---**

"So, two weeks?"

"Yes," Kagome smiled into the telephone, Inu-Yasha on the other end.

In the background all the girls in the TV room were silent, all ears craning to hear the conversation in the hall near the door. **No one **got calls, but Kagome had been getting _at least _one a week since the date for her release had been set.

"I can't wait," Inu-Yasha smiled on his end of the line, where curious coworkers were mimicking the ward girls as they paused in their lunch break to listen to Inu-Yasha's one private phone call for that week.

"Me too. You'll be coming at eight; right?"

"Yes, I'll come at eight, and we'll meet in the lobby, I'll sign some papers, you'll sign some papers, then we'll leave and go have lunch somewhere…" he ran through their plan again, something the did regularly, almost as though it were a beloved fairy tale. "…then we'll go home."

"Home…" Kagome nodded, the smile widening, "I can't wait."

"Neither can I, but I have to go."

"I love you."

"Love you too.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Sango looked down at _All the President's Men_, pursing her lips. Every day there was a reminder, every day it got closer.

Soon she would be alone in this room with Abi, Kikyô, and Rin, the only other "normal" person gone.

**To be continued…**


	9. Case 9

Wheee….

I LOVE YOU ALL!

I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #9

_I see you walk a -  
Way, a long way, always, back,  
Turned away from everyone.  
I see you walk on,  
A long, straight line that curves a -  
Round like a ribbon.  
It's not fair you see,  
Not fair at all, not fair at all, Yet,  
We can't fix it, friend.  
We all love you, and,  
We'll all miss you dearly,  
Goodbye, Kagome._

"Sango…this…" Kagome stares down at the paper.

"This is for you," Sango smiled, "I don't want you to forget us ever. We'll always think of you, Kagome. It won't be the same."

Eyes welling, the girl dressed in a pale periwinkle tank-top and dark blue pleated mini-skirt drew her best friend into a hug, "Sango, I hope you can get out of here some day, you know, come visit in California - I write a lot…"

"Kagome…" Sango's tears spilled over as well, "I'll write back, don't worry."

"AS WILL I!" Rin jumped into their hug, "I'll miss you too, Kagome." Turning to look over her shoulder she smiled, "So will Kikyô."

"You wish, Rin," the aloof patient smirked before training her eyes on Inu-Yasha who was in the doorway. "You, you take care of her, or else."

"Kikyô…" Kagome stared.

"I even have a .45 at home, and I know how to use it, so if you make Kagome cry, you'll find it at your head, Chico."

"You have such a way with emotions, Kikyô," Nurse Wenschweiger sighed.

"It's true, I will kill him if he makes her sad."

"You say that now…."

"I'll miss you too, Kikyô," Kagome smiled, then began on her trek to the outside world as she set a hand on the ward's door that led to the waiting room.

**---**

"Sango, what would you think if I told you I could get you out of here," Miroku broke the drowning silence that had prevailed for fifteen of their forty-five minutes.

Instantly her ebon eyes snapped up to meet his violet eyes. "How?"

"You haven't told anyone how you got here, but if you tell me, I bet we can get you out of here."

"That won't happen yet…it can't happen. Mom and Dad will keep me in here, locked away from everyone - I'd rather be here than be in jail, that's why I pleaded the way I did - I didn't want to go to juvi."

"Sango, you know I will try my best to get you out of here, you and I both know that you don't belong here, and -"

"Dr. Miroku, do you know what happens tomorrow? Have the told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

"Kikyô turns eighteen."

"June 14?"

"Yes," Sango nodded, "but there's something more significant than her turning another year in her damned life."

"What is it…?" Miroku was transfixed, drawn to the information, forgetting he was a doctor and Sango was a patient. He felt as though they were just two people speaking about someone they knew. This conversation could take place on campus maybe, who knows, but now it was really taking place in his office, no matter what his subconscious wanted to tell him.

"She'll be transferred to the adult ward, and I will too in September - on September 23, I turn eighteen, and with that, I will be moved to the adult ward - we've seen it happen before, it's nothing new."

"Then, I could still get you out - we have -"

"Three months, a week, and three days, counting today."

This was hurtling at him faster than the G-force on his first roller coaster ride. He hated roller coasters, and here he was, speeding in a sharp decline. "Sango, I - you -"

"Dr. Miroku," Sango's eyes fluttered up to meet his again, "I came to terms with that in June. I know that this is the life ahead of me, I tried telling Dr. Naraku, but it didn't work, he made it harder for me to ever get out of here, or any other ward ever -"

"Sango, I don't want to see someone like you trapped in this world for the rest of your life. Everyone knows that you aren't in need of this kind of treatment, you aren't made for here."

"Dr. Miroku, we might know that, but -"

"No buts!" rising, Miroku's hands slammed onto the table, "You can't keep running away from this fact!" At her stunned expression, he looked down at his hands splayed on the table, then cleared his throat before regaining composure, unsure of how he had been able to slip like that.

"Just consider it, Sango," his tone had returned.

**---**

"I TRIED SO HARD, AND GOT SO FAR, BUT IN THE END IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER -"

"THAT'S BECAUSE I'M GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP, RIN!"

Rin lowered the paper towel roll she had been using for a microphone, "Come on, Kikyô, it's Linkin Park!"

"I'll Linkin Park you…."

Sango sighed, leaning against the windowsill. Watching the people walking around, she could still hear Dr. Miroku in her head.

_"Then, I could still get you out - we have -_

"Sango, I - you -

"Sango, I don't want to see someone like you trapped in this world for the rest of your life. Everyone knows that you aren't in need of this kind of treatment, you aren't made for here.

"No buts! You can't keep running away from this fact!

"Just consider it, Sango."

'Consider what? Leaving here? Going out into a world where I have no one? Sure, I could find Kagome, but then I would be imposing on her, and I don't want to do that…

'What if Mom and Dad discovered that I had been released? Surely they would want to put me back, or put me in jail - What do I have to say to make them believe me? What can I do to make my words count over Kagura and Kana? How…?'

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Abi…?" Sango gazed upward at the young woman sitting beside her.

"You really miss her, don't' you?"

"Yeah…it's not the same without Kagome."

"You two were joined at the hip," Abi laughed. "I remember when I first saw you and Kagome never leave each other's sides I asked Kikyô if you guys were sisters. She said no, so I asked if you were lovers -"

"_WHAT_?!"

Abi laughed again, reaching out to catch a bird on her finger, "And, she said no."

Breathing in relief, Sango laughed with her, "Then what?"

"Nothing more, I didn't need any other answer -"

"Girls, we have a new charge."

Instantly all of them jumped to their feet, except for Kikyô, who lazily glanced up from her magazine.

"This is Yura Hari," Nurse Wenschweiger smiled, "She's sixteen, and shall be staying with us for a while."

"Like, until she's eighteen," Kikyô frowned, returning to her magazine.

"Eighteen?" Abi turned to Sango.

"You get transferred to the adult ward," she whispered back.

"I hope you girls will behave -"

"So, Yura, what you in here for?" Rin bounced up to her.

"RIN!"

"It's all right, Nurse Wenschweiger," Yura smiled, "She deserves to know. I," Yura placed a hand over her heart, "love hair."

The other girls stared at her.

"And, **that **got you in here?" Kikyô raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Oh, it was a lovely head of hair…so beautiful, pristine…I needed it so bad…"

'Whacko…' Sango turned back to the window. She really didn't belong here, but she still wasn't sure if she was ready to account that night…

The night her little brother was killed.

**To be continued…**


	10. Case 10

I love you all!

I don't own anything!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #10

They were sitting in the office again, silent as stone.

Picking at the wooden arm of the chair she was in, Sango contented herself with avoiding Miroku's eyes as he deliberated over what to do next.

"Okay, I've been thinking about it, and since Kikyô isn't here to have an appointment next, I have enough time to tell you," Sango looked down at her hands, then met his eyes, "but first off, I. DID. NOT. KILL. KOHAKU!"

Miroku stared. He wanted to ask who Kohaku was, but he wasn't sure if he should speak.

As if reading him, Sango smiled sadly, "Kohaku is my younger brother. If fate was kind, he would have turned fourteen back in August.

"Anyway, my cousins, Kagura and Kana are twins and hold weight in our family. How that happened, I'm not sure, but they have the power to bend people to believe them and not others - even my own parents took their words over mine, and told me how horrible I was and verbally berated me before sending me off to a trial where I pleaded insanity over intent."

Pausing, she held his gaze. "I was in court for murder, you know. A murder I didn't commit, the murder of my brother that Kana and Kagura carried out because he wouldn't do as they said."

Miroku swallowed, his mouth dry. This was insane! Two people controlling the beliefs of a family, turning immediate family against each other and killing off their own cousin to make it seem as though his older sister had done it?!

It didn't add up, but by the way she met his eyes, he knew it was true.

"Did they try you as an adult?" a raspy whisper signified the dryness.

"No, but if I were to say, 'Look, I wasn't insane,' well, I'm about to turn eighteen, so I would have a trial as an adult now."

Miroku's eyebrows knitted. "I think I can get you out of here, but I'm not sure how well it would work." Twirling in his chair, he began riffling through his file cabinet behind him, Sango watching his every movement. Twirling back to face her, he spread a binder out, and began flipping through the pictures of various drugs. "Okay, here we are," he placed a tissue to mark a page, "and…" he flipped a few more pages into the binder, "…here's the other one."

Sango raised an eyebrow, "Wha -"

"Okay, you have two options that I can see that might work without a repeal that your parents will certainly put up for lying under oath, which will get you into lots of trouble…" pausing, Miroku slipped out one of the tissues, "Actually to avoid that scenario, you have one option which is a little radical."

Sango scooted closer, "What is it?"

"Well, my friend Tanuki - the guy who went with me to Prom to pick up chick, remember?"

She nodded.

"Well, he's a lawyer, and I think…" his voice trailed, and then he looked up, "Sango, do you want to leave here?"

"Huh?"

"Before we proceed, I want to know if you do want to leave. What I'm about to suggest is dangerous, but will work. We will need to make lots of preparations to do it, but it would be pointless to begin if you want to stay in this environment."

"But…" she frowned, "I…."

"Sango, in your heart, did you kill Kohaku?"

"No."

"Do you believe you are insane?"

"No."

"Do you believe that you should be here?"

"Hell no!"

"Then do you want to take a slightly dangerous approach to getting out of here?"

She met his eyes, pursing her lips. "Let's hear it."

**---**

"It's not the same without Kikyô," Rin sighed, hanging from the couch upside down. "They never finished Yu Yu Hakusho either…now there's just some dumb cyborg show on…" sighing again, she gazed about the recreation room, then blinked. "Hey, Abi -"

"THAT'S ABI-**HIME** TO YOU!"

"Okay, okay," Rin somersaulted into a sitting position on the floor, "Abi-_hime_, have you seen Sango?"

"Sango?" the young woman gave the younger girl a puzzled look.

Rin sighed, "Never mind.

"What about you, Yura?"

"What about what?" Yura looked up from where she was re-braiding a large Barbie head, two others that had been played with already discarded. If she wasn't clinically insane, Yura could have been an excellent hairdresser.

Letting out an exasperated noise, Rin responded through clenched teeth, "Have you seen Sango anywhere?!"

"Sango?" the girl with a bob cut, glanced around, "No, I haven't. Why?"

Rin stretched out on the floor, "I don't know, it's just not the same with her not h -"

"AIEYA! NURSE WENSCHWEIGER! NURSE WENSCHWEIGER! COME QUICK!"

Instantly the three girls were in the hall with the nurse who was barreling towards a new staff member.

"What's wrong, Nurse Meeks?"

"I - In here, ma'am," the young woman pointed a finger into a room, "S - She's…."

Plowing past the newbie, Nurse Wenschweiger entered the room, then came to a halt. Stepping back slightly, she made a face, then turned to Nurse Meeks, "Meeks, go round up the girls, Dr. Arisugawa and Dr. Ming," at the hesitance of the other woman, she bellowed, "NOW!"

**---**

"Dr. Miroku!" Rin instantly launched herself into the older man's arms. "Oh, Dr. Miroku, you're here! It's horrible!"

"What? What's happened?" Miroku cast his violet eyes about the recreation room, "Where's Sango?"

Instantly Rin's eyes welled and she began bawling.

"Rin, Rin, what's wrong?" he looked down at her, then looked at his other patients, "What happened?"

"Sir, Sango -" Abi went to speak, then blinked, Abi-hime speaking instead, "Dr. Arisugawa, your beloved patient is in the medical ward. We heard the screaming about a half an hour ago, that newbie nurse came rushing out from her room, screeching for Nurse Wenschweiger, and then she came out looking very solemn. After that, they gathered us all into the recreation room, even patients who aren't yours," she gestured her hand about ten girls he had never seen, "and called for you and Dr. Meeks."

"What happened to her?" Miroku stared, his heart dropping to his feet, a sweat breaking out.

"I don't know," Abi-hime shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Miroku shook his head. What was he going to do next? His mind was blank. All they did was paged him and said there was an emergency in the psychiatric ward. Pursing his lips, he sighed, "I won't hesitate to tell you that I'm as speechless as you all are. If you can think of anything we could say or do, feel free to suggest it. I would like to pretend that I know what's about, but I don't. I am barely older than you all are, and not experienced with this kind of matter."

"Dr. Miroku?" Rin looked up at him, "Could you - could you see what's going on? We all want to know, but they won't tell us anything! It's like they don't know we exist!"

Miroku surveyed the crowd, whose eyes were boring into him.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"You better get something," Abi-hime met his eyes, "In the spirit of Kikyô, I won't let you back in here without something decent."

Miroku nodded, then disappeared. That last line hit him. He could imagine Kikyô's reaction, she would have had it all figured out, actually, she would know what was going on. He could see her indifferent stare, and hear her voice. 

_"You have access we don't," _she would say, staring into his eyes, _"and if you think I'll let you back in here with some wimpy excuse for why you know nothing, you have another thing coming," _and then she would hold his gaze, and he would be doing what he was doing right now. Perhaps his patients had some power over him, but in that power came things that Dr. Naraku would never have achieved. He was able to bring things out of the girls that no one knew that could help some of the ones like Rin, Kagome, and Sango escape. Kikyô never said anything about why she was in there, but whenever he looked at her, he had the impression that her soul had died long ago, and he would never get her out.

In his mind a quote from _Spider-Man _reigned, reverberating in his ears, a quote he had read and liked so many years ago.

_"With great power, comes great responsibility."_

They had all the power, but he had the responsibility, two entities that were joined hand in hand. The girls had a right to know what was going on, and so did he. It was his job to find out what they couldn't find out for themselves, time to use the power to help them, that was part of his responsibility to keep the stability of his patients.

Halting in front of the nurses' door, he rapped it.

"Oh, Dr. Arisugawa," Nurse Wenschweiger spoke from behind him, "you're here?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I was wondering what exactly is going on. The girls are going crazy, no one has told them anything, and since it seems to concern one of my patients, I figured that I also have a right to know as well."

Nurse Wenschweiger eyed him, then sighed, "Dr. Arisugawa, it's been hell.

"We've just called Hill Street Morgue," her blue eyes, dead for the first time, gazed into his wide, vibrant violet orbs, "Sango is dead. No one knows why, but we are filling out her last request since all her family stated was that she be tossed in a ditch."

Miroku stared, swallowing nothing, his mouth too dry.

Nurse Wenschweiger placed an elderly hand on his shoulder, "Dr. Arisugawa, you can't fool me."

He stared, his eyes widening farther.

"What Rin said was right. You and Sango were in love, I know right now that your world is falling around you. Like the adult and doctor you are, you didn't act on what you felt, possibly hid it away so you could perform what you had to." Her eyes kept his gaze, "Go tell the girls, they're waiting for you, and I think that it will be better they hear it from you rather than me, Dr. Ming, or - heaven forbid - Nurse Meeks."

Nodding numbly, Miroku turned to go. His world was falling around him. It wasn't fair. This whole ordeal wasn't fair.

Leaning against a wall, he rested his forehead against his right forearm, his left hand stuffed into his pants' pocket. Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut, he let his body shake violently with a stifled sob. This was painful, this was worse than pain, and it shouldn't have to be this way.

It had been going so well, but this was the only end, right? This was the only way it would ever end. Sango was going to die in the ward, and that was the only way it could have been.

The plan was going smoothly, and that made him even sicker.

**To be continued…**


	11. Case 11

I don't own anything!

Uozumi

**_Guilt_**

Case #11

"I never would have suspected Sango to want to be cremated."

Miroku jumped slightly, then nodded, "Kikyô, when did you come?"

"Just now, I snuck out," she brushed if off lightly as he, she, the nurses, and all the other patients including Kagome and Inu-Yasha stood around a small grave plot.

Miroku would have reprimanded her, but it was Kikyô and Kikyô did what Kikyô thought was best regardless of what she would suffer later. He knew that Sango would appreciate Kikyô's presence - actually, she would appreciate everyone's presence at her funeral.

If only the day wasn't so sunny…

Closing his eyes, Miroku wiped his eyes. It wasn't fair at all, but somehow everything had worked out. Somehow, everyone had won in a sense. In that weird sense…

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he went to say something to the young woman beside him, but only a shuddered gasp came out. Before he could manage words, Kikyô had wrapped him into a hug.

"Hey, doctor, it's okay. You can cry. I'd cry too, but I just don't cry," she murmured. "You'll be fine, we'll all be fine. Everyone will move on, and we'll always remember her, and the pain will ebb."

He nodded, pulling away, "I - I want to say something to her, but I can't."

Kikyô's eyes softened for the first time in his presence, her face displaying her emotions, making her look more human. "That's right, she's not here, but when you see her again, you can tell her that I miss her, and that I hope she's happy."

He stared.

She just returned to her indifference, "Now, if you excuse me, they'll be after me soon," and then she walked away back towards the hospital.

**---**

"Can we do anything?"

"No," Miroku shook his head as Kagome pursed her lips. "There's nothing you can do."

"Dr. Miroku, I - I hope you'll move on," she offered awkwardly. "I mean, you and Sango could never admit what Rin kept saying, but it was true, wasn't it? You and she loved each other, right?"

Miroku paused, then nodded, "Yeah, I suppose we did." Kagome's presence stuck out to him, he shut his eyes, standing before the grave, hands clasped in front of him.

"Can you leave me alone?"

Kagome paused, then nodded, "Inu-Yasha and I have to go back home anyway.

"Perhaps we'll see each other under better circumstances."

Miroku nodded, but didn't look up, or make a motion after their car pulled away, leaving him alone in the graveyard, facing a grave, trying to make up for all the pain and the fact that none of Sango's family had shown.

"Goddammit, Sango, I'm sorry. I - I wish that I could do something for you. I wish that this had never happened, I -"

"I'm sorry."

Miroku looked over his shoulder, tears streaming. Wiping them, he straightened slightly, turning towards the owner of the voice. "It's - it's not your fault."

The young woman with mid-neck length hair studied him, her piercing blue eyes taking him in, "You're crying!"

"Of course!"

She held his gaze, then rushed forward to embrace him, "I'm - I'm so sorry, doctor, I - I -" and then she too was crying.

"It's okay, Sango, it all worked out, didn't it?"

The young woman looked up at him, the face he knew changed by the hair and the contacts. Her expression was pained, but then it morphed into reproach, "I'm Naoko, fool."

Miroku smiled, then kissed her forehead, "Yes, I know you are now, but in my heart you will always be Sango."

**THE END**


End file.
